Matt talks to Ed Tepporn—himself an immigrant, immigrating from Thailand to Texas in the 1970s, the Executive Director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, a former U.S. immigration Station that now serves to preserve the rich stories of Pacific Coast immigrants (from 80 different countries) and share them through educational initiatives and public programs. As Ed says, “connecting the history of the past with what’s happening today and in the future.”

The gentlemen discuss the spike in xenophobia, anti-immigration sentiments, and racism towards Asian-Americans in this country as a result of the pandemic. They decry their mutual challenges of being “otherized” as gay men—and for Ed, gay and Asian—and celebrate the wins of the right to marry their husbands and the legal protections marriage affords, as well as commend the contributions and positive impact of immigrants on US society and culture.